Police assume teenager drowned in Moselle

Emergency services have stopped their search for a 16-year-old boy, who jumped into the Moselle river on Wednesday evening and was carried off by the current.

12.06.2013

(CS/vb) Emergency services have stopped their search for a 16-year-old boy, who jumped into the Moselle river on Wednesday evening and was carried off by the current.

Nearly 24 hours after the incident and an intensive search, police said they assume that the boy has died.

On Wednesday evening three teenagers jumped off a railway bridge between Konz and Trier, in Germany, into the Moselle. One of the teenagers was submerged under water and witnesses indicated that he never re-emerged.

River police and firefighters were joined by a helicopter equipped with a thermal imaging camera in the search for the teenager.

At 2pm on Thursday rescue services were hopeful that they had found the body, after a sonar showed a human-like shape. However, this turned out to be a broken up wooden pallet.

The water of the Moselle currently only has a temperature of around 10 to 12°C, which can quickly lead to hypothermia. Additionally, high waters and driftwood pose further dangers to swimmers.

Police commented that incidents of young people jumping off bridges into the Moselle had increased, warning of the dangers of this kind of reckless dare.